


torn

by tellmewhatyousee



Series: law works the night shift [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Injury, Medical Procedures, Stitches, mentions of needles, rated for a little bit of language and vague descriptions of medical procedures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24987901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellmewhatyousee/pseuds/tellmewhatyousee
Summary: When Zoro tears his stitches, Law happens to be the first to notice.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Series: law works the night shift [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808809
Comments: 13
Kudos: 140
Collections: tellmewhatyousee's Personal Faves





	torn

**Author's Note:**

> i really enjoyed writing [lend a hand,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23367610) so i figured i'd start a little series with law and each of the straw hats. you don't need the context of the first fic, but you might like it if you like this one!

Zoro didn’t mind being on night watch. It meant he could train to his heart’s content, with no worries of the little doctor nagging him about his injuries. He’d never hurt himself working out before (not seriously, anyways), and he’d been lifting a whole 5 lbs less than he usually did, so he was sure he’d be fine.

He was not fine.

Sometime around his 500th pushup, a sharp pain shot up his side. He didn’t think much of it, ‘no pain no gain’ and all, and just kept on going. He only stopped when he heard footsteps approaching, and saw a familiar pair of dress shoes stop in front of him. 

“Do you plan to do anything about that?”

Zoro looked up. “About what?” he asked. Law didn’t often speak directly to him, and didn’t seem like the type to start a conversation in general. So what the hell was he doing now?

“About your blood dripping all over the deck.”

Zoro looked down at himself, and sure enough, he saw a big red stain growing in his shirt. “Oh. Huh.” Slowly, he moved to stand, and lifted his shirt to look at the wound in his side. Sure enough, the stitches had split open, and it was bleeding all over again. “Shit, I like this shirt.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Law replied. “Would you like some assistance before you bleed out?”

“Huh?” Zoro was already taking his shirt off at that point, and bunched it up so that he could hold it to his side in an attempt to stop the bleeding. “What kind of ‘assistance’ are we talking about here?”

“Someone is going to have to replace those stitches, Roronoa.”

Zoro furrowed his brow. “And what, you’re volunteering?” he asked. “Why should I trust you with something like that?”

“Well, for one, I know better than to harm an ally on their own ship,” Law replied. “And, as a doctor, allowing you to neglect your health would be against my moral code.”

Zoro scoffed. “Didn’t know you had one of those.”

“Do you need help walking, or are you able to get to the infirmary on your own?” Law asked, as he’d apparently made up Zoro’s mind for him.

Zoro sighed as he lifted the shirt to look at the wound again. It was still bleeding, quite a bit actually. When he looked back towards Law, the man was already heading back inside, so Zoro decided to cut his losses and follow him.

By the time Zoro walked into the infirmary, Law was already washing his hands in the sink. “Lie down wherever you’re comfortable, and keep pressure on the wound for now,” Law said without looking over his shoulder. “This shouldn’t take long.”

The infirmary was a lot different with Law’s presence, Zoro noticed. When Chopper was there, it seemed so welcoming, somewhere to go for comfort and healing. Law, however, made it feel so cold and clinical, like any other medical room. Zoro looked around before he settled on the exam table, since it would probably be the easiest place to clean the blood off of. The back was propped up slightly, too, so he’d be able to lean back without lying completely flat.

He watched as Law searched the cabinets, occasionally pulling out tools and materials he deemed useful. Zoro didn’t get why so much went into stitching up a wound to begin with, and Law seemed to be grabbing a lot more than Chopper ever used. Maybe it was just a surgeon thing— maybe he just had to make everything more complicated than necessary.

“Can’t you just use your devil fruit for something like this?” Zoro asked after a moment.

Law spared him a glance before he went back to the sink to wash his hands a second time. “If you’d like to be at the mercy of a pirate captain you seem to have a lot of distrust for, sure,” he answered. “But I prefer not to use it on smaller things. As I said, this shouldn’t take long.”

Zoro shrugged. While he’d seen some of Law’s ability before, he was sure he hadn’t gotten the full extent of it. The more he thought about it, getting caught up in one of his ‘rooms’ or whatever didn’t really seem like a pleasant experience.

Zoro heard the snap of a latex glove before Law rolled over to his side in Chopper's desk chair, along with a small table that held everything he'd gathered. “Let me see?” Law said, and leaned in to get a good look at the wound once Zoro moved the shirt away.

“Do you really need all this shit just to stitch me up?” Zoro asked, nodding towards the table. There were at least four metal tools sitting on a tray, which seemed like at _least_ three too many.

“If you have a problem with my methods, Roronoa, you’re free to leave,” Law said. “I’m not keeping you here against your will. Lift your right arm, please?”

Zoro rolled his eyes before he did as asked, raising his arm and tucking his hand behind his head. He’d finally stopped bleeding so much, at least, so he wouldn’t be making a huge mess of the table. “Fine. Do your thing.”

Law hummed as he turned to the table beside him. “This might sting a bit,” he said, but Zoro didn’t pay him much mind. He just stared up at the ceiling as Law removed the old suture and cleaned the wound, ignoring the faint sting of the cleanser on his skin. He’d at least been through that process enough times that he knew what to expect, and his pain tolerance was high enough that it didn’t bother him in the slightest.

At one point, Law got up to dispose of his gloves, wash his hands again, and put on another pair— was it really necessary? Zoro decided not to ask, since Law seemed so snippy about his previous questions, but he did watch while Law prepared the suture.

The surgeon seemed to have some sort of realization, because he paused and looked up at Zoro. “Oh, would you like a local anesthetic?” he asked, “Or a numbing cream? I’m sure I can find something.”

“M’fine,” Zoro said with a shrug. Chopper always insisted on it, but he really didn’t care. If he could survive getting the wound in the first place, he could survive a needle. He didn’t see a point in wasting supplies.

Law didn’t try to convince him otherwise, just rolled his chair closer and positioned his hands to start. “You’ll feel a tug on your skin,” he mumbled before he got to work.

Zoro watched on with some interest, noticing what Law did differently. He’d tie off each individual stitch before cutting it, and while it seemed like a waste of time, Zoro couldn’t help but wonder if there was a reason for it. “Why don’t you just stitch it all the way through and then tie it off at the end?” he asked, despite Law’s earlier comments about his questions. “Isn’t that faster?”

Law cut the suture again before he glanced up at Zoro. “It’s more secure this way,” he answered, to Zoro’s surprise. “If you happen to tear one stitch, the rest will stay. So long as you don’t continue the activity that caused it to tear in the first place.”

“Huh,” Zoro said, “Makes sense.” It seemed… thoughtful, almost.

“I presume stitching isn’t Dr. Tony’s strong suit?” Law asked as he started a new stitch.

Zoro frowned, surprised (and, frankly, a little offended) that Law would question Chopper’s abilities. “Hey, he gets the job done,” he answered. “He may not be a surgeon, but he knows how to take care of us.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Law replied. “I think he’s an excellent doctor. But we all have our strengths and weaknesses. From what I can see, he’s also very skilled in aspects of medicine that I’m hardly familiar with.”

Zoro raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?” he asked. “Don’t tell him that, it’ll go right to his head.”

Law chuckled. It was the first time Zoro had really heard anything like a laugh from him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Despite his techniques, Law was right— the stitches didn’t take very long at all. He had Zoro sit up so that he could bandage the wound, but not without a word of warning.

“You should allow the wound to breathe, but please keep these on for at least the next day or so,” Law said as he tied off the bandage. “I’d also advise putting a hold on your training until you have more time to heal.”

Zoro smirked as he swung his legs around to the side of the table, then hopped down onto the floor. “Yeah, yeah. Now that I’ve got two of you on my ass about this, I’d better be careful.”


End file.
